The world's problems cannot be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by obvious realities. We need men and women who can dream of things that never were. (John F. Kennedy)

One of the biggest challenges of rebuilding Nova Friburgo, severely hit by the biggest natural disaster in the history of Brazil, is to provide housings on a large scale and in safe places, from requiring techniques solutions which should not repeat the mistakes from the past. The natural disaster caused by heavy rains that devastated the Rio De Janeiro state mountains in January, was in the world-wide media because of our city vulnerable situation, due to an urban development related to the overlapping of the private interests above the collective ones. It brings up the urgency to radically update the way we deal with our habitat. Although these natural disasters happen year after year, with increasing frequency and intensity, it can be seen that the actions of the Government has been limited to its emergency aspects, not solving the problem in structural terms.

The Movement Nova Friburgo in Transition has as intention to insert the city in World-wide movement of the Cities in Transition (Transition Towns) from the actions of the civil organized society and the Government, for the accomplishment of the necessary changes, so that the city reaches a situation of urban sustainability, becoming less vulnerable to the effects of climatic changes, economical and/or energy crisis. We understand that every crisis is, also, a moment for chances and possibilities to change courses. It doesn?t mean only to construct houses for the homeless, but rebuild these cities under new approaches, constructing, instead of those huge complex built in areas far from the workstations, districts planned under the perspective of sustainable ecosystems development.

The basic proposal of the Movement is the accomplishment of an eco-district pilot project, so that this experience can be redone in other places, encouraging a radical change in the current urbanization model, and promoting a more immediate positive repercussion toward to the desired transition, than just enforcing a urban legislation that, however indispensable, presents more results in the long run.

This eco-district project could be accomplished through a national competition of ideas.

The winners would participate, in a cooperative way, developing the project, based on a reference term created by a multidisciplinary technical team (architects, sociologists, geologists, engineers, geographers, anthropologists, economists, etc.) and representatives of the future residents. Parallel to that, wide eco pedagogical campaigns would be carried out, especially with the population target of the project (homeless people and inhabitants of areas that are in risk). There are institutes and workshop-schools in the region, such as: TIBÁ (Institute of Technology Intuitive and Bio-Architecture), Pindorama Institute, Bambu-Rio, CECNA, Mãos de Luz, Escola da Mata Atlântica, etc. They could qualify young volunteers to work, under the orientation of architects and engineers, in the construction of the new constructions and urban infrastructures, by applying sustainable technologies and ecological principles as the permaculture.

In a perspective of inversion of the current trend of extensive and predatory urbanization, this new urban settlement would have to be one vertical eco-district, in a conception of ?compact city?, with a similar urban quality to the ones in Brasilia, but with some differences:

1. The traffic system will privilege the pedestrians (with attractive wide sidewalks and public parks), the bikers (with a wide bike road and public places to park the bikes), and a mass collective transport (moved by electricity or bio-fuel);

2. The urban Implementation will have to adjust to the local geomorphologic characteristics, taking advantage on the topographical declivities, with the intention of avoiding the use of elevators (vide example of the ?Conjunto Pedregulho?, by the architect Reidy) and fitting the sight through the use stilts;

3. Use of local and eco-techniques materials, taking in account the geographic and cultural characteristics of the place and of the future residents;

5. Qualification of young volunteers to work erecting urban constructions and infrastructures (as in the Movimento Oasis, in Santa Catarina - BR).

The basic idea is the collective development of a trial design, radically new, regarding the current status that could serve as reference in the transition from the current predatory and chaotic urban standard to a model of sustainable development, like synergy. This is the appropriate moment for the fulfillment of this proposal, because of the Conference Rio+20 that?s is going to happen next year, when Rio De Janeiro receives environmentalists from the entire world to evaluate the advances of the ECO-92.

To conclude, the perspective of a transition for a sustainable urban model also involves, necessarily, the people involved in the project and in its results, by the combination of values such as cooperation, neighborliness, solidarity, creativity and conscience of being part of the planet, under penalty of making it impracticable to live on Earth.